This invention relates to a paper grinder and the method of grinding paper thereby. In that regard, it should be noted that the term "paper" includes such related paper-type products such as paperboard, cardboard and the like which are generally in the form of planar sheets.
It is well known to cut or shred paper or paper-like documents so as to obliterate their content. Such conventional shredding produces shredded paper product strips which have virtually no secondary use. In fact, most of such shredded paper has to be disposed with other waste and adds to ecological problems. Examples of such paper document shredders are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,686,466 issued Aug. 17, 1954 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,169 issued Nov. 7, 1978 to Lee and Hatanaka respectively.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to be able to simultaneously not only dispose of waste paper including documents to obliterate their content but additionally form a useful product. Thus while shredded paper as above indicated has virtually no use, paper powder can be used in many different ways including the construction field in which powder can be further treated with flame retardants, for instance, to form cellular insulation or combined with other materials to form paper pulp which can then be formed into constructional panels, for instance, for use in ceiling tiles. In addition, paper powder has significant use in the arts and crafts field, for instance, for the formation of paper paste as in combination with glue and colorants to produce simulated bark for bonsai trees or the formation of papier-mache products such as decorative trays and the like.
Also, it would be desirable to produce a paper grinder which, unlike available paper shredders which produce strips or shreds of documents the content of which can be painstakingly reassembled to enable the content to be at least partially deciphered, would absolutely obliterate the contents of documents.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is the provision of a novel paper grinder which directly forms paper powder without the necessity of intermediate steps.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a paper grinder which absolutely obliterates the content of documents such that they could never be even partially reassembled.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a paper grinder which has operational flexibility in its ability to accept various sizes and thicknesses of paper and paper-like products and yet which is of simple, straightforward construction and of generally low cost.
A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a paper grinder which operates in a unique such that it accepts very lightweight paper sheets and directly grinds such to powder without the necessity of otherwise supporting them prior to or during impact.
These objects are accomplished by the provision of a paper grinder which initially corrugates the incoming paper sheets to temporarily stiffen them prior to contact by a rotating impact wheel which progressively contacts the leading edge of the paper as it serially moves through the device.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.